Liberty claims €7bn social benefit from its investment

Liberty Global believes its €14.5 billion investment in super-fast networks over the past four years has generated €23.5 billion of economic activity in Europe and this has provided a net social benefit of over €7 billion.

Liberty revealed the claims from its consultant Oxera at ANGA. Oxera said it had focused on only measurable benefits of Liberty’s investment, but many serves would be made possible by it in the future.

Oxera said Liberty invested €14.5 billion between 2013-17 connecting 3.9 million homes and businesses. The economic footprint of the investment, including the impact on suppliers and the multiplier effect, produced €23.7 billion in “wider economic activity”, it said.

It calculated the net benefits from‘speed benefits’ of €5 billion, with g reater speed and reliability said to allow subscribers to access a wider range of services and enabling households to access differentcontent simultaneously. ‘Price benefits’ for new areas where Liberty entered the broadband market and created greater competition amounted to €0.5 billion. ‘Productivity benefits’, based on figures extrapolated from previous investments, amount to €1.5 billion.

Overall, therefore, Liberty’s investment has created a “total social benefit” excluding the impact on its own profits, of €7.1 billion, said Oxera.